Prairie Wind (book)

''Prairie Wind'' is the 28th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on September 27, 2005.

After an album rooted in 1960s soul music, ''Are You Passionate?'', and the musical novel '' Greendale'', ''Prairie Wind'' features an acoustic-based sound reminiscent of his earlier commercially successful albums ''Harvest'' and '' Harvest Moon''. The album's songs find Young pondering his own mortality, as he was undergoing treatment for an aneurysm during the album's production. Songs were also inspired by the extended illness of his father, Canadian sportswriter and novelist Scott Young, who passed a few weeks after the album was completed. The album is dedicated in part to the elder Young.

Writing

The songs find Young reminiscing about his youth, reflecting on the passing of time, and considering his own mortality in light of his father's illness and his own health scare. The album was written and recorded after diagnosis but before undergoing minimally invasive surgery for an aneurysm in the spring of 2005. Young recorded the album's songs on a guitar owned by Hank Williams. In a January 2006 interview for Rolling Stone, Young explained his song writing process:

"Falling Off the Face of the Earth," was inspired by a voicemail left for Young wishing him well as he went into surgery. "Most things just came pouring out, but that song's unique because a lot of it came from a voice-mail message. A friend of mine called, knowing I was going through this, and left me a voice mail that was, 'Thinking about you; just want to tell you that you mean a lot to me,' that kind of stuff. So I wrote it all down and made up this kind of bass-ackwards melody. With songwriting, the key thing is not to have any preconceptions, to be wide open and never worry about whether it's cool or not. Use whatever you can, and worry about cool after you finish the record." Young elaborates to NPR's Terry Gross:

"Far From Home" finds Young remembering his father buying him his first musical instrument, an Arthur Godfrey ukulele, and learning to perform songs from his family members:

"Here for You" was written for his daughter, Amber, as she finished college and Young transitioned to life as an empty nester: "She's 21 and she's moving on, you know, she's in college, she's graduating, and I'm really proud of her and how well she is doing. She's an artist, and you know, of course, I miss her all the time but I really don't want to intrude so I was just trying to communicate to her that she has a place to go, but it wasn't a place she had to go, you know. She--if she needed me, I was there, that myself and her mother would be there for her if she ever needed us and that she was free to go and free to stay, and that we were behind her all the way, you know. So it is just that kind of a song, a kind of letting go without letting go."

"When God Made Me" was written on piano: "First of all I didn't know what I was doing. There was a little room with a piano in it. And the piano is locked in the room. It'll never leave the room unless they destroy the room. It can't leave because the room was built around it. And the room is in a church. The studio is in a church. So the ceiling of this studio has got a few little vents in it. And if you stand on top of a ladder with a flashlight and look up through the holes you can see the church windows. And this old huge roof and everything, and it's closed off, because to get the right sound and everything they, they made a lower roof. But when you see that, it really gets you. And then I just started playing this hymn. And Spooner Oldham is one of the most beautiful, beautiful gospel players on the organ; it's just great. I mean he's just alive with it. So I've learned a lot from him over the years, just listening to him. So all the passing chords and the blending of things together. But all hymns seem to have these little passages on the piano between them that sets up the next verse, kind of gets everybody in the key and kicks it around and gets ready to go. So I found myself just playing this and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing."

Recording

Young recorded the album at Masterlink Studios in Nashville, where Roy Orbison had also previously recorded when it was Monument Recording Studios. The recording sessions were video recorded, and a deluxe edition of the album contains a bonus DVD with footage of each song being recorded.

The songs were recorded as they were written, and the track order reflects the order in which the songs were recorded. Young explains in an October 2005 interview for Time Magazine:

The album features the rhythm section of Rick Rosas and Chad Cromwell, with whom he had previously recorded on 1989's ''Freedom''. The album sees Young reunited with many of the Nashville musicians that had appeared on Young's previous albums ''Comes a Time'', '' Harvest Moon'' and '' Silver & Gold''. Emmylou Harris and his wife Pegi Young provide backing vocals. Director Jonathan Demme recalls Young raving about working with many of the musicians:

Several songs also feature ensemble accompaniment. The song "No Wonder" features the Fisk University Jubilee Choir. "Far from Home" and "Prairie Wind" feature a horn section arranged by Wayne Jackson of The Memphis Horns. "It's a Dream" features a string section arranged by Chuck Cochran, who also arranged the string sections on ''Comes a Time''.

Promotion

A premiere live performance of ''Prairie Wind'' was held in 18–19 August 2005 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Here, Young held a two-night concert where songs from the album were performed. These concerts became the subject of a film directed by Jonathan Demme entitled '' Heart of Gold''.

Young debuted the album's closing track, "When God Made Me", at the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.

Critical reception

The record was regarded by Robert Christgau as "one of those nearness-of-death albums", along with Mississippi John Hurt's '' Last Sessions'' (1972), Bob Dylan's '' Time Out of Mind'' (1997), Warren Zevon's '' The Wind'' (2003), and Johnny Cash's '' American VI: Ain't No Grave'' (2010).

Commercial performance

The album debuted on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart at number 11, on October 15, 2005, with sales of approximately 72,000 copies. It remained on the chart for 26 weeks. It was awarded a certified gold record by the RIAA on January 23, 2006. ''Prairie Wind'' received two Grammy Award nominations at the 2006 Grammy Awards - ''Best Rock Album of the Year'' and ''Best Rock Solo Performance'' for "The Painter".

Track listing

All songs written by Neil Young

Personnel

*Neil Young – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, piano, vocals
*Ben Keith – Dobro, pedal steel, slide guitar
*Spooner Oldham – piano, Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer electric piano
*Rick Rosas – bass
*Karl Himmel – drums, percussion
*Chad Cromwell – drums, percussion
*Grant Boatwright – acoustic guitar (5), backing vocals (1)
*Clinton Gregory – fiddle (2)
* Wayne Jackson – horns (4, 6, 9)
*Thomas McGinley – horns (4, 6, 9)
*Emmylou Harris – special guest vocalist (2, 4, 8)
*Pegi Young – backing vocals (2–4, 6–7, 9)
*Diana Dewitt – backing vocals (2–4, 6–7, 9)
*Anthony Crawford – backing vocals (1, 2, 6)
*Gary Pigg – backing vocals (2, 9)
*Curtis Wright – backing vocals (2)
*Chuck Cochran – string arranger
* Fisk University Jubilee Choir, directed by Paul Kwami

Additional roles
*Gary Burden, Jenice Heo – art direction and design
* L.A. Johnson – photography
*Larry Cragg – photography
*Elliot Roberts – direction
*Chad Hailey, Rob Clark – recording and mixing
*Tim Mulligan – mastering

DVD production
* L.A. Johnson – photography direction
*Elliot Robinowitz – executive production
*Toshi Onuki – editor
*Rich Winter – authoring

Charts

Certifications

References

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2005 albums
Neil Young albums
Reprise Records albums
Albums produced by Ben Keith
Albums produced by Neil Young
Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year albums